[valis]

pretty good deal, IMO.

http://lifehacker.com/5922982/window...r-xp-and-above

[loserOlimbs]

Too bad the GUI is so radically different from any other PC GUI... might turn everyone off of 8. That and many PCs still on XP probably can't handle 8 very well.

[The_Compuguy]

It's very funny after all these years, Microsoft wakes up. Reduce Piracy by lowering the costs, Apple sells thier OS for $30 why not do the same, more sales, more legit customers!

Good Call Balmer!

[loserOlimbs]

Originally Posted by The_Compuguy

It's very funny after all these years, Microsoft wakes up. Reduce Piracy by lowering the costs, Apple sells thier OS for $30 why not do the same, more sales, more legit customers!

Good Call Balmer!

Apple has never sold an OS for $30. A service pack or a patch, yes... but the OS requires a purchase of their branded PCs at $1000+, and the OS is "free" with the system.

[935684]

True, but once you buy the first OS with your machine, future major updates (or new OSs) only cost $20 or $30. The only limiting factor would be an OS that can't be handled by your particular machine

For example, I received Snow Leopard with my mini. If I recall correctly, I upgraded to Lion for $20, and, subsequently, to Mountain Lion for $30.

As far as Windows is concerned, I'm still using XP, as I can't see myself spending in excess of $125 for 7 or 8.

[ddk]

Granted, I'm not a computer tech with a degree. I do have about two years being trained by a tech with more than 25 years experience, repairing, building and sales of windows based computer systems. One of the many things we talked about was UPGRADE vs NEW. Our experience showed us that any problems with the original OS will come thru on the upgrade, also any viruses, spyware, maleware ect.... will still be thier. And we also saw a tendency for the upgrade to fail after about a year. My experience with upgrades are with XP, Vista and W-7, I have not checked out W-8 as of yet. I started with a custom XP computer and re-built it increasing the ram from 4gb to 32gb & upgrading the HD. I found the 64bit W-7 upgrade was not compatible with the 32bit XP. I ended up buying the full W-7 Ultimate version and have been very happy with it. I admit, that this was not long after W-7 was released and the tech I was working with retired, so I have not been doing any research into this since then. I just thought of, I don't know what size the new W-8 is? But I know that XP is a little bit bigger than W-7 and Vista was about twice as big as XP & W-7 combined, why would you want waste the extra space and it could slow ones computer down searching thru useless info.

[loserOlimbs]

Originally Posted by 935684

For example, I received Snow Leopard with my mini. If I recall correctly, I upgraded to Lion for $20, and, subsequently, to Mountain Lion for $30.

As far as Windows is concerned, I'm still using XP, as I can't see myself spending in excess of $125 for 7 or 8.

That is a new trend with Mac. Traditionally each "new" OS, which is more of a service pack than a new OS has been closer to $170 than the $30 that Apple releases the last one for.

That said, I also think you are giving Microsoft too much credit here. I don't think it has to do with reducing piracy as much as getting people to try Windows 8. I think their marketing sees a flop with the new GUI and wants to get as many people using the new interface now, so that if Win 9 has the same look the enterprises don't look towards Linux or *shudder* Macs.

[loserOlimbs]

Originally Posted by ddk

I just thought of, I don't know what size the new W-8 is? But I know that XP is a little bit bigger than W-7 and Vista was about twice as big as XP & W-7 combined, why would you want waste the extra space and it could slow ones computer down searching thru useless info.

Wot?

XP is ~2GB installed
Vista ~15GB
7~ 10GB unless you install Ultimate, and then back to ~15GB.

Vista and 7 were also 99% the same operating system, same rendering engine, same index, same major revision kernal (NT6 and NT6.1, Windows 8 is NT 6.2).

[lili5689]

At that price, I don't see how I can't buy a copy. I was expecting to shell out $200 for Windows 8 Pro. This should certainly increase adoption from previous versions of Windows.